Non-perishable, but lightweight foods for backpacking
T1DCarnivoreRunner
Posts: 11,502 Member
So I'm doing a back-packing trip next month, and plan to car camp for a couple days prior to heading out into the wilderness. The plan is actually to car camp, do a half marathon, then head out backpacking... to be clear, schedule is as follows:
Fri. - Car camp - assume this is far enough from restaurants that I must bring my own non-refrigerated foods
Sat. - Half marathon, still car camping
Sun. - head out backpacking
Fri. - return to vehicle by end of day... assume the nearest restaurant won't be available until Sat. morning at earliest
*So as you can see, I'm planning on having to bring 8 days of food with me somewhere or another. What I eat Fri. - Sat. (and early Sun. morning) doesn't matter on weight, but I want to avoid carrying as much food as possible because of weight.
To avoid excess weight, and because most keto carb-level foods do not require re-hydration, I only plan to bring a very small and lightweight folding stove and fuel tablets (Esbit, for those familiar) for coffee. This takes a few lbs. off compared with a larger stove and fuel bottle. Still, I'm planning to carry 7 days food (6 + 1 day backup) and expect that to weigh somewhere around 15 lbs. (ouch!).
My food list currently has:
-Summer sausage
-Pepperoni sausage sticks (heavily processed and will survive without refrigeration)
-Cheese (need to eat this first, probably while car camping)
-Macadamia nuts (seem to be the most calorie dense of all nuts)
-Walnuts
-Peanuts
_Almonds
-Peanut Butter (because of having to carry empty jars after eating, will probably eat early while car camping as well)
-coffee (not for calories, but because I need it)
-Possibly adding some tuna pouches
**Thinking about protein powder or possibly powdered eggs. At least with protein powder, I don't necessarily need to worry about using hot water. Otherwise, I'll cook a tea pot every day for coffee and could make a little bit of extra boiling water.
The weight is scaring me, though I'm aware the food weight will decrease over time. I plan to add salt/potassium mixture to nuts so I replenish electrolytes. I plan to repackage the nuts, so the only remaining weight after consumption will be from the plastic bags used for packaging.
Any other suggestions for how to carry very low carb foods with lower weight?
Fri. - Car camp - assume this is far enough from restaurants that I must bring my own non-refrigerated foods
Sat. - Half marathon, still car camping
Sun. - head out backpacking
Fri. - return to vehicle by end of day... assume the nearest restaurant won't be available until Sat. morning at earliest
*So as you can see, I'm planning on having to bring 8 days of food with me somewhere or another. What I eat Fri. - Sat. (and early Sun. morning) doesn't matter on weight, but I want to avoid carrying as much food as possible because of weight.
To avoid excess weight, and because most keto carb-level foods do not require re-hydration, I only plan to bring a very small and lightweight folding stove and fuel tablets (Esbit, for those familiar) for coffee. This takes a few lbs. off compared with a larger stove and fuel bottle. Still, I'm planning to carry 7 days food (6 + 1 day backup) and expect that to weigh somewhere around 15 lbs. (ouch!).
My food list currently has:
-Summer sausage
-Pepperoni sausage sticks (heavily processed and will survive without refrigeration)
-Cheese (need to eat this first, probably while car camping)
-Macadamia nuts (seem to be the most calorie dense of all nuts)
-Walnuts
-Peanuts
_Almonds
-Peanut Butter (because of having to carry empty jars after eating, will probably eat early while car camping as well)
-coffee (not for calories, but because I need it)
-Possibly adding some tuna pouches
**Thinking about protein powder or possibly powdered eggs. At least with protein powder, I don't necessarily need to worry about using hot water. Otherwise, I'll cook a tea pot every day for coffee and could make a little bit of extra boiling water.
The weight is scaring me, though I'm aware the food weight will decrease over time. I plan to add salt/potassium mixture to nuts so I replenish electrolytes. I plan to repackage the nuts, so the only remaining weight after consumption will be from the plastic bags used for packaging.
Any other suggestions for how to carry very low carb foods with lower weight?
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Replies
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Chicken comes in pouches too & doesn't need refrig.
Regular eggs in a cooler will keep for car camping.
Left-overs from home should last in a cooler Fri & Sat.
You might check out your local sports store to see what
they offer in dehydrated meals.
or 
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Dehydrated meals at camping stores are not only expensive and have heavy packaging - they also always contain carbs. Even if I can just pour in boiling water, the dehydrated eggs would be a better option in the back-country than the MRE's at camping stores.
As for a cooler, I plan to bring a very small cooler (about 6 in. X 4 in. X 5 in.) with an ice back from home... just to keep cheese and meat a little bit cooler on the trip out and while car camping. I anticipate stopping in hotels on drive out (2 days), so can probably some ice to a sandwich sized zip-lock each day. This stuff will probably survive a day or 2 without refrigeration, so if I keep cool on the trip out and just eat the cheese first (while car camping), it will probably work out fine.0 -
Seems like you've got a solid list to me. Powdered eggs tho... maybe protein powder you can mix with water later on the trail? Low carb shake of sorts?0
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Nut butters can be transferred into poly squeeze tubes that are very light and reuseable. Hubby and I have used these for many different things for flights/camping and they are GREAT!
https://rei.com/product/696007/coghlans-squeeze-tubes-package-of-2
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Also if you opt for baked cheese snacks instead of fresh cheese like cheese sticks, you wouldn't have to eat all the cheese early.
Cello Whisps (Sam's Club, Costco)
Oven Bakes Cheese Bites (from Trader Joe's)
Kitchen Table Bakers (Sam's Club)
Just the Cheese
Moon Cheese1 -
Coconut oil and/or nut butter in individual packets... I was wondering if you could concentrate pickle juice to a point of using it as an electrolyte gel...LOL A squeeze bottle of something like powerade zero's Mio version thing...
I don't know, overall. Fat is calorie dense, so most fatty foods are "heavy." Underripe avocados? Tuna pouches some have mayo and such prepacked. What about something like salt cod or dried fish?0 -
Wanted to share this http://www.lostways.org/fb/index.php?r=3877&r=6001&tid=main_med_fbk_thelostways&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=FL1-LostWays-Direct-WebConv-GP&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=lookalike_2per_fb_audience_buyers&utm_content=batch1-V5 which came up on my Facebook but looks both easily adaptable to low carb as well as very stable. "Pemmican is a portable, long-lasting, high-energy food which never goes bad..."1
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Just a thought to cut down on the food weight in the pack. Feast before you head out for the back packing part of the trip. Then fast for at least 72 hrs. and eat all the stuff you have with you over the next few days.
Only thing on your list I would omit is the peanuts. They are legumes and can cause stomach issues when eaten with the other foods you have listed.1 -
Sounds fun!
Looks like a good list of food. I think I'd be pretty happy with that. I'd add some beef jerky too.1 -
pemmican. Can't get much more energy dense than that and still be edible. I think the 1st south pole explorers used that. It has some carbs but so what. I think backpacking, a few carbs will not hurt. I don't know where you can buy it but you can make it.2
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JessicaLCHF wrote: ».... "Pemmican is a portable, long-lasting, high-energy food which never goes bad..."
I watched a programme on the Discovery channel the other evening, about people in the northern Canadian 'wilderness' and the sparse and widely-spread small, modest and basic log cabins they lived in.... Only they had a legal right to use them, and hunt, fish and live off the land. I didn't catch the beginning of the programme, but it was fascinating - and certainly made me glad we have hot running water, and a car to go to the store in! Boy oh boy.... I think personally speaking, I might last a day or two, but I had to hand it to these guys - they were rough, ready and completely 'at home'!0 -
Pickled eggs0
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Yeah I don't think I'd recommend a 72 hour fast with any kind of strenuous hiking.2
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JessicaLCHF wrote: »Yeah I don't think I'd recommend a 72 hour fast with any kind of strenuous hiking.
No... also, within that 72 hrs. prior is the half marathon. I'm actually planning on doing the opposite - I'll be in a calorie surplus in the days before heading out and then in a deficit while back-packing.2 -
Going on a 1-2 day hike next weekend, do no where near the same issue, but been thinking about this too.
Seems frozen food in vacuum should last a while. Or you could dehydrate beef I guess.
Have also been thinking of just fasting the entire weekend, but seems risky.0 -
As a snack with no weight I bring porkrinds.
Takes a lot of space, but 50/50 protein and fat is great.1 -
No need to rush through your cheese. I've made blocks of cheese last many, many days while in the backcountry (without refrigeration), and the harder the cheese, the longer you can go without refrigeration. Just seal it up really well to keep air from getting it between meals.1
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So you're back @midwesterner85? Yes? How was the trip? The half marathon? Did you end up doing well in the food category? No food poisoning and ample supplies? How far did you hike? Inquiring mind/s want to know. Please share!2
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So you're back @midwesterner85? Yes? How was the trip? The half marathon? Did you end up doing well in the food category? No food poisoning and ample supplies? How far did you hike? Inquiring mind/s want to know. Please share!
No, not back. The half marathon is Sat. and I start backpacking Sun.1 -
I just returned from southern UT. I was dayhiking & kayaking. I packed and refilled a small plastic container, that had an opening that facilitated pouring contents into mouth, with raw sprouted sunflower seeds that salted myself with celtic sea salt.
I have had backpacking friends pre pack a meal in a sealed container of quinoa or lentils, chopped veg, lemon juice or vinegar, herbs, salt, water at the beginning of the day. They say the action of walking, the ambient heat, the time hydrated and "cooked" the contents. At the end of day, their meal was ready.
Do you have access to dehydrator to prechop and dehydrate the vegs. Can you make jerky ahead of time, so you have enough meat protein. Vinegar or lemon as an acid will help keep the contents sanitary in those "cook-while-you-walk container meals". Sugars will cause fermentation and can be explosive or leaky. Fats spoil more easily without refridgeration. Do you have water filter and will there be water sources along the way?
Add a quantity of salt (with trace minerals) to your packing list. It's light, and will provide necessary
electrolytes added to your food or drink.1 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »So you're back @midwesterner85? Yes? How was the trip? The half marathon? Did you end up doing well in the food category? No food poisoning and ample supplies? How far did you hike? Inquiring mind/s want to know. Please share!
No, not back. The half marathon is Sat. and I start backpacking Sun.
Oh cool. I guess I didn't note a post from you for awhile until today so figured you were out hiking, now back. Have a great adventure.
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I just returned from southern UT. I was dayhiking & kayaking. I packed and refilled a small plastic container, that had an opening that facilitated pouring contents into mouth, with raw sprouted sunflower seeds that salted myself with celtic sea salt.
I have had backpacking friends pre pack a meal in a sealed container of quinoa or lentils, chopped veg, lemon juice or vinegar, herbs, salt, water at the beginning of the day. They say the action of walking, the ambient heat, the time hydrated and "cooked" the contents. At the end of day, their meal was ready.
Do you have access to dehydrator to prechop and dehydrate the vegs. Can you make jerky ahead of time, so you have enough meat protein. Vinegar or lemon as an acid will help keep the contents sanitary in those "cook-while-you-walk container meals". Sugars will cause fermentation and can be explosive or leaky. Fats spoil more easily without refridgeration. Do you have water filter and will there be water sources along the way?
Add a quantity of salt (with trace minerals) to your packing list. It's light, and will provide necessary
electrolytes added to your food or drink.
The food I'm taking is nuts, peanuts, heavily cured meats (mostly pepperoni sticks), dehydrated eggs, protein powder, and coffee. I've backpacked before going low carb, and am very familiar with water filtration. My pack is going to be very heavy with mostly non-dehydrated food, but I've save a little bit of that weight back by just packing a folding Esbit stove and fuel cells. The plan is to only boil water in the morning to have dehydrated eggs and coffee. Otherwise, for water I thought at first that I would switch to bottles and chemical treatment in order to save weight. However, a 2 day trip earlier this month attempting to use that method showed it was just not what I wanted to do. I will bring my trusty Camelback hydration reservoir that I've used for years, along with a Katadyn water filter.2 -
Beef Jerky.0
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I thought about it, but there is only so much beef jerky one can eat. At a certain point, that stuff causes some painful bowel movements.
I'm probably not online again until after the trip. I'll try to update everyone when I return.3 -
OK, So it is time for an update...
6/24 did the half marathon and then went to pick up my backcountry permits to find out that my initial route was not going to work for 2 reasons - 1 area was closed and the other area had a steep snow field with the last report from 6/12 suggesting ice axe and crampons (neither of which I had). Without any more recent information and nobody has apparently hiked it yet this year + they say the views are not that great past that point anyway... so the permits were changed to go around the closed area and then have a 0 day to skip the further hike out and back over that snow field.
6/25 - Headed out for the long day to go around the closed area. Full pack with food and 3L water weighed 48 lbs. (yikes!). 18.2 mile day and 3K+ elevation both up and down to go over a pass and then down to camp. It was a long day and my feet became quite blistered. I sweated a lot and refilled my 3L reservoir once on the pass. That night at camp, I tried to filter water from a lake and found that my filter was plugged. Throughout the whole day / evening, I did not end up eating much more than half of my 4,500 calories packed for the day. It was a long day, though.
6/26 - I borrowed another hiker's filter and was able to add about 2L of water to my reservoir. I had a life straw as a backup and soon found that it wasn't going to be a long-term solution. It is a real pain to drink straight from streams and I couldn't carry water so I had to rely on there being frequent streams. Over the first few miles, I considered and basically decided to take an early exit. The quickest route out from where I was at was 11.3 miles for the day. I went through the 2L of water by mid-day and drank periodically from streams with the LifeStraw as best as practical. The plan was to hike out and hitch-hike back to my car. That is exactly what I ended up doing and by the end of the day was buying lots and lots of water from a convenience store.
TMI:All day on 6/26, I urinated once. And it was dark yellow and a bit painful even. I was so dehydrated that I drank 2L of water in the evening that I got from the convenience store and 1/2 L of soda; but still did not urinate until the next morning. It's depressing to have to cut my hike short, but between the dehydration and the heavy pack, blistered feet (I did get some new hiking boots already), and the poor ability to get much from that Life Straw... it was just safer to pack out early.0 -
Sheesh! That sounds like a whole lot of not fun while learning lessons mess! I hope you're recovering now, finally!0
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Bummer to Murphy's Law but I bet you're seeing some silver linings and planning the next hike already!0
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Use your straw to drink out of your water container! You can fill it up with stream water and do that so you can keep moving. 48-lbs for 3-days is heavy. Good luck next time!0
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Use your straw to drink out of your water container! You can fill it up with stream water and do that so you can keep moving. 48-lbs for 3-days is heavy. Good luck next time!
It was 48 lbs. for 6 days. Still pretty heavy. I brought more food than I really even needed and had clothes that I probably didn't need such as a wool hat and down jacket because I thought it would be colder. I always end up bringing too much.0
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